1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:02,800 Before I read the scripture today and get started into the 2 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:04,760 message, I have a request from you. 3 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:08,920 I would like an extra measure of prayers this coming week. 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:14,000 I, I hope that that you know, I know you all have a lot going on 5 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,239 a lot going on here. But as you're praying, I, I hope 6 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:20,200 that that you would be willing to pray for me on a regular 7 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,840 basis because as, as I prepare sermons for Sunday, because my 8 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,920 goal is always not to speak my opinion or my ideas, but speak 9 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:31,680 what the Spirit wants us all to hear from his word each week. 10 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,120 But I am feeling led. And I'm glad Rick mentioned the, 11 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,240 the war between Israel and Iran and, and, and now our 12 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,080 involvement in it. And I am not an expert in those 13 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,240 things. And, and I, as, as you know, I, 14 00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:52,000 I am determined to avoid partisan politics from the 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,000 pulpit. This is one of those big kinds 16 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,840 of things that affects us, even if we're not directly involved 17 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:05,800 in the conflict ourselves. It's something that that it, it, 18 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,440 it has. It has certainly a national 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,440 impact here and some respects a global impact. 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,760 And there are great stakes at this moral and ethical stakes as 21 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,680 well as political stakes. And I, I, as I woke up that I 22 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:24,640 didn't see the news last night, I saw it this morning early as 23 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:30,320 I, I woke up and about our now active participation in that 24 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:34,120 conflict. I, I am feeling like I might, 25 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:37,440 I'm thinking God might be leading me to address this 26 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,480 situation as part of the sermon next Sunday. 27 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:45,120 And, and because I, I, I don't know what that would look like 28 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,360 exactly, which is why I'm asking for your prayers that if God 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,280 really wants me to do that, that God would make it clear and make 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,120 the message clear. And if God doesn't want me to do 31 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:55,920 that, that God would make that clear as well. 32 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:58,400 I want to be faithful to God in all of this, though I don't know 33 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:01,800 what that would look like. But, but if I do ultimately end 34 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,560 up addressing it as part of next week's sermon, it it I can tell 35 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,320 you what it won't be. It won't be a a partisan rant 36 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,480 against one side or the other. It won't be a religious rant 37 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:17,600 against one religion or another. And it, it won't be an 38 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:23,640 ideological rant against one ideology or another that I am a 39 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:27,840 firm believer that in heaven there will be no Republicans and 40 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,000 there will be no Democrats and there will be no socialists and 41 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,680 there will be no communists and there will be no, you know, name 42 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,640 your ideology that's out there. The folks that are in heaven 43 00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:41,760 will be there as followers of Jesus Christ. 44 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,840 And and so I never want to anything that I say from the 45 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,680 pulpit to make someone feel like I can't be here because of, you 46 00:02:50,680 --> 00:02:53,760 know, I'm, I'm not welcome because of my politics. 47 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:58,840 And so just just grace, pray for me again to, to really hear 48 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,400 where God is leading in all of this and that I'm faithful to 49 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,880 him and all of that. So please, that's just again, my 50 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:11,640 my request for your prayers. That said, we're going to jump 51 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:16,520 into the message today and we are moving in as our and our in 52 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:18,880 our walk through the Scriptures. We are moving into Genesis 53 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,760 chapter 6 and heading up to the flood here and just going to 54 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,000 read a few verses from Genesis chapter 6. 55 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,600 Read verses one through 8. I can tell you that at no point 56 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:34,800 in my life have I ever read the first 5 verses of Genesis 57 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,720 chapter 6 and said to myself, boy, I can't wait to preach on 58 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,160 that. This is one of the strangest 59 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,640 passages in the entire Bible. And in fact, I have been 60 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,040 reluctant to preach on it. I tried to skip over it and I 61 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:53,960 felt like, no, I'm going to have to preach on it and and so I'm 62 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:55,600 going to read it. If you don't know what I'm 63 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,720 talking about already, you will know very soon when I'm talking 64 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,520 about when I tell you this is one of the strangest passages in 65 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:04,120 the Bible. Let's jump in Genesis 6 verses 66 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:09,480 one through 8, when human beings began to increase in number on 67 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,000 the earth and daughters were born to them. 68 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,560 The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were 69 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,040 beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 70 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:23,600 Then the Lord said, My spirit will not contend with humans 71 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:28,680 forever, for they are mortal. Their days will be 120 years. 72 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,800 The Nephilim were also on the earth in those days and also 73 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,400 afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans 74 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,800 and had children by them. They were the heroes of old men 75 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,440 of renown. The Lord saw how great the 76 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,680 wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that 77 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:53,160 every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was 78 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,920 only evil. All the time the Lord regretted 79 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:00,320 that He had made human beings on the earth, and His heart was 80 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,560 deeply troubled. So the Lord said, I will wipe 81 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,040 from the face of the earth the human race I have created, and 82 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,760 with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move 83 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,720 along the ground, for I regret that I have made them. 84 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,000 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord had 85 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:22,880 his blessing to the reading and the hearing of His Word. 86 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,400 It's a lot of weird stuff in just a few verses, a lot of 87 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,400 challenging stuff in just a few verses. 88 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,840 But the theme that I want us to focus on as we work through the 89 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:36,840 weirdness and the challenge here is, is the folly of idolizing 90 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:40,560 power. The temptation in our culture is 91 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,640 very real. And I think it's the temptation 92 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:47,960 in in in most cultures, maybe all cultures, to idolize power 93 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:52,240 and those who have power. And by idolize, I don't mean get 94 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,760 down on your knees and, you know, do this. 95 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,200 I mean, say, man, if only I had what they had. 96 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:00,920 Boy, they've got it made. Wow. 97 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,480 If I could just have that kind of power, that kind of wealth, 98 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,960 that kind of influence, then I could really do something 99 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,920 important too. Idolizing power. 100 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,040 There's folly in it, and the folly is such that the Lord put 101 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,960 a deadline. Put a deadline when he said my 102 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,280 spirit will not contend with humans forever. 103 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,360 There's an end to my patients, God says, and I will deal with 104 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,080 this. There will be a reckoning. 105 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,440 So the folly of idolizing power. Before we can really explore 106 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,080 that, though, we have to deal with some translation challenges 107 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:41,440 and, and, and address which addresses some of the weirdness 108 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,160 that's in these verses. So there are there are at least 109 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:48,360 four things in these verses that provide incredibly difficult 110 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,680 challenges for people trying to translate Hebrew into English. 111 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,640 So we know what these verses really say. 112 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,000 The first one of those is a phrase that's repeated 2 times, 113 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,000 Sons of God. The sons of God married 114 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,600 daughters of Eve, daughters of humans, depending on which, you 115 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,920 know, version you're looking at, the sons of God married human 116 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,120 women, and the Nephilim were born. 117 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:12,200 These heroes, mighty folks on the earth. 118 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,040 What and who are the sons of God? 119 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:17,840 It's a challenge. There are two major schools of 120 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:21,520 thought on this, and the simple fact is that the word God, sons, 121 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,360 is easy. That one's a simple one, but the 122 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,920 word God there is, is a word that is difficult to translate 123 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,600 in this context. It's used a lot in the Bible. 124 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:35,520 It's the word Elohim, and it's actually a plural word that most 125 00:07:35,520 --> 00:07:39,800 of the time it's used, it refers to God, the Lord, God Almighty, 126 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:43,760 the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God the Father, Elohim. 127 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,560 That's the way it's mostly used. There are some places in the Old 128 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:53,280 Testament where it means God's plural and Psalm chapter 8, for 129 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:57,880 example, where the psalmist writes to God, speaking to God. 130 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,640 And what are humans that you are mindful us, yet you have made us 131 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,800 a little lower, a little less than the gods. 132 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:11,760 It's the word Elohim. It's also used in Exodus and 133 00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:16,080 translated as judges that in legal context, when they're 134 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,480 disputes among the people of Israel, they are to take those 135 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:23,560 disputes to the Elohim. And clearly in that context, 136 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:27,440 it's not talking about God or gods, but human beings acting as 137 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,440 judges in these judicial conflicts. 138 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,720 And and so the question is, what's going on here in Genesis 139 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,280 chapter 8? Are these sons of God? 140 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,520 So the two main schools of thought are the sons of God, are 141 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,960 angels some sort of angelic or spiritual beings that see women 142 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,440 on the earth and think, wow, they're really pretty. 143 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,240 I want one of those or many of those. 144 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:54,440 And they come down and they join with the human women and they 145 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,840 create these hybrid babies that are called Nephilim. 146 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:01,080 That's one school of thought. There are a lot of people out 147 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,880 there that believe that, a lot of ancient and modern 148 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,880 theologians, Jewish and Christians that believe that. 149 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:12,160 The other major school of thought, it says that angels and 150 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,640 humans can't mate their spirits. Angels are spirits. 151 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,920 They cannot make babies with humans. 152 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:24,640 It just doesn't work. And so this must mean God Elohim 153 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:29,400 here must mean more like judges. These are powerful humans that 154 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,840 are in such a position of power that they can pick any woman 155 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:36,640 that they want or more than one if they want and say I'll have 156 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:41,880 them and that that some of their children became mighty people in 157 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:47,480 the land. I just, this is not one of those 158 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,000 things where if you, if you're on one side or the other, you're 159 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:51,880 going to heaven and the other side you're going to hell. 160 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,960 It's not like that. There again, it's this is 161 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,240 notoriously difficult to, there's no way to conclusively 162 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,520 determine one or the other. I can tell you that some of the 163 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,240 Christian heavyweights like Augustine, John Calvin, and John 164 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:08,760 Wesley all said angels and humans can't have babies. 165 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:12,960 It just doesn't work. And so I'm going to treat this 166 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:18,000 as if these sons of God are not Angel human hybrids or the sons 167 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:21,240 of God aren't angels and the Nephilim aren't Angel human 168 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:23,920 hybrids, that these are powerful human beings. 169 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:26,880 And, and if you disagree with that, that's as I guess all 170 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,400 right. This is 1 where lots of people 171 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,160 disagree. However, I do want to say this, 172 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:36,080 given that either translation is legitimate according to the 173 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,880 language, I think it's much more relevant to our day. 174 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,640 I, I cannot remember the last time I had to deal with an Angel 175 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:47,520 human hybrid, you know, whether that was a live challenge in our 176 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:49,800 community, our country, or our world. 177 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:52,600 What do we do with these Angel human hybrids? 178 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:57,680 But there's a lot of relevance in our context to how do we deal 179 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:03,000 with powerful people who just take what they want and do what 180 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,880 they want and have the might to back up their political and 181 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,200 legal power in the world. That's a real world problem. 182 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,040 So we're going to, we're going to treat the sons of God in that 183 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,320 way. The heroes is another one of 184 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:18,760 those words. Heroes. 185 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:21,880 That's the NIV translation. A lot of translations use mighty 186 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,200 men or mighty ones, and that's those actually are better. 187 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,200 Heroes in our context always has a positive connotation or almost 188 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:32,240 always you know the heroes are the good guys and you have the 189 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,920 villains or you have superheroes and you have super villains. 190 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,680 But heroes has a positive connotation to it in our 191 00:11:39,680 --> 00:11:41,760 culture. That word in Hebrew does not 192 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:45,640 have any positive. It can be used for good people 193 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,080 that are mighty. It can be used for evil people 194 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:51,080 that are mighty and it's used often of God who is mighty. 195 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:53,840 So it goes any of those directions. 196 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:57,280 And so we when we're thinking of the Nephilim, these children 197 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:01,360 that were born from the these sons of God marrying these 198 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:05,400 women, think of them as heroes does not imply that in any way 199 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,640 that they were good. What it means is that they had a 200 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,280 lot of strength. They had a lot of might, a lot 201 00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:15,920 of power to back up their their status as the children of the 202 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,000 ones that had power and authority in the land. 203 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,880 OK, then we've got abide versus content, which is not as 204 00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,760 challenging the others that I mean when it says God the Lord 205 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,240 said my spirit will not contend with humans forever. 206 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:32,040 You can also translate that Hebrew. 207 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:35,920 As the Lord said, my spirit will not abide with humans forever. 2 208 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:40,720 very different concepts, but practically speaking it has the 209 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:41,720 same impact. Here. 210 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,920 God is putting a time limit on things and God is either saying 211 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,080 I'm I'm going to, I'm not going to stay with human beings 212 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:51,040 forever. If you're going to behave badly, 213 00:12:51,560 --> 00:12:53,720 I will eventually withdraw my presence from you. 214 00:12:54,560 --> 00:12:57,640 Or God is saying I'm not going to wrestle with you forever, 215 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,400 trying to wrestle you into doing things my way. 216 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:02,880 At some point I'm going to stop and back up. 217 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,760 The practical impact is the same, but the word could be 218 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:08,880 translated either way. The other one is the 120 years. 219 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:11,600 I'm not going to stay. And then God says I've set a 220 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:13,760 limit on the humans at 120 years. 221 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,000 There's again, there's a lot of division. 222 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,320 There's some folks that say that 120 years means God is now 223 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,560 saying that's the maximum lifespan for human beings. 224 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,000 Prior to this. If you go back and look at 225 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,760 Genesis chapter 5, that's where you see all of these people 226 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:33,440 living hundreds and hundreds of years, 678900 years and and God 227 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:36,360 is saying no more. From this point on, human beings 228 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:40,560 will not live past 120 years. And now 120 years is about as 229 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:42,280 old as I've ever heard a human being living. 230 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,600 The other well, the challenge with that particular way of 231 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:51,280 looking at 120 years is that that even after the flood, there 232 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:52,640 were still a lot of human beings. 233 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,960 The Bible identifies as living much longer than 120 years. 234 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,480 I believe that that. And again, I'm not, I'm not a 235 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:04,200 Hebrew scholar. And, and again, this is no other 236 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:05,360 areas. Different people believe 237 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,520 different things. The other big school of thought 238 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,520 on that is that God is setting a time limit. 239 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:12,640 From the point that God is making this pronouncement, it's 240 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:14,640 going to be 120 years until the flood. 241 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:16,840 He has started the timer ticking. 242 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:19,960 And it was during that time frame that Noah built the ark. 243 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,680 It was a big boat and he didn't have any heavy machinery to help 244 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,640 him with it. And that that Noah spent the 245 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,920 next 320 years and then the flood came. 246 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,680 I think that given the context and the overall impact of this 247 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:35,160 passage, that that's more likely the one that that God is saying, 248 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,240 here's the time limit. You got 120 years before I'm 249 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:40,960 wiping out humanity from the face of the earth, except for 250 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,320 Noah and his family. So that's translation problems. 251 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,760 I just wanted to get those out, by the way, so that we're all on 252 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,000 the same page, because what we're talking about here is not 253 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,320 the challenges of how do we deal with Angel human hybrids. 254 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,800 The problem that we're talking about, the evil of the day that 255 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:58,920 was there is what we have to focus on. 256 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:03,880 And that evil of that day has to do with powerful human beings 257 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:08,360 using their power in bad ways. Let's take a look at a few of 258 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:14,280 the verses again here in Genesis 65, the Lord saw how how the 259 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,720 Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had 260 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,640 become on the earth, and that every inclination of the 261 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:24,040 thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 262 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,400 That's bad. I mean that I've met some bad 263 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,520 folks in my life that have done some very bad things. 264 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:35,680 And if none of them, even as individuals, could I say that 265 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,400 every inclination of their heart and every thought in their mind 266 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:44,320 was only evil all the time. They love their moms. 267 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:48,600 They, they sometimes love, you know, but God saying this, and 268 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:50,400 this is not just true for a few people. 269 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,000 This is everybody except Noah and his family. 270 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:58,040 Noah found favor with God. Everybody else, every thought 271 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,600 they had, every action that they took was always evil all the 272 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:04,440 time. That's about as bad as it gets. 273 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,880 It's about as bad as it gets. And, and part of that is that 274 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,800 there's no turning back here. This is the legacy of Cain, the 275 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:13,560 legacy of the sin of Adam and Eve. 276 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,400 And and now it's all evil all the time. 277 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,080 If that's the case, then there's no change in the boat. 278 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,440 There's no change in direction. The Titanic's going to hit the 279 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,800 iceberg. Because if, if, if everyone's 280 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:27,640 thoughts are always evil all the time. 281 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,280 There's no space for God, and there's no way that children 282 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,280 raised in that environment are going to just follow in the 283 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,840 footsteps of their parents. And there's no room for God to 284 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:40,920 come in or even a godly person to come in and change direction. 285 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,480 But this is very general. This is not specific. 286 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,000 There are two specific evils that are mentioned in Genesis 287 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,120 chapter 6. Two specific evils. 288 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:51,440 One of them we see in verses 11 to 13. 289 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,680 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of 290 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,400 violence. God saw how corrupted the earth 291 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:00,280 had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their 292 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,800 ways. So God said to Noah, I am going 293 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,599 to put an end to all the people, for the earth is filled with 294 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:11,359 violence because of them. One of the specific evils that 295 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:13,160 God names is the evil of violence. 296 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:15,359 Again, this is the legacy of Cain. 297 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,440 This is people taking Cain's way of doing things and adopting 298 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,119 that of their own. I'm going to take what I want, 299 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,200 and I don't care who I have to step on, who I have to hurt, who 300 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,319 I have to, who I have to kill to get it. 301 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,680 Violence has become the rule of the day. 302 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:34,520 The way I advance myself, the way I advance my honor, the way 303 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,160 I secure my position is through violence. 304 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,280 And violence is one of the two named reasons why God wiped out 305 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:45,600 the earth. A love of violence. 306 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:47,720 But there's another one, and it's related. 307 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:49,120 It's a different in some respects. 308 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:50,920 It's just a different kind of violence. 309 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:52,720 Let's go back to those sons of God. 310 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,920 The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were 311 00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:59,360 beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 312 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:04,760 Now, if we're not careful, we can see this in romantic 20th 313 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,800 and 21st century eyes. The sons of God looked out. 314 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,880 We fall in love with these women or this woman, and we can choose 315 00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,560 to marry them if we want. We're not bound by rules of 316 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:20,280 rigid social hierarchy that demand that we only marry, you 317 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,640 know, parent. This is not what this is about. 318 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:25,400 You'll notice. This isn't women getting to 319 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,640 decide that they can marry who they want. 320 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,800 This is powerful human being, the sons of the judges, the sons 321 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,680 of people in the Thorpe positions of authority and 322 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:38,320 power, looking out into the world and saying I get a pick 323 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,560 whichever and however many women I want and make them my wife. 324 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,440 The other type of evil that was going on, which is another form 325 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:53,240 of violence, is powerful people exploiting weak people and 326 00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,520 vulnerable people for their own personal satisfaction. 327 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:03,400 I will take what I want, even human beings, even human beings. 328 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,840 So what was the clearest picture that we have of the state of the 329 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:11,200 world that God LED God to say, I repent. 330 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,920 I regret having made humans, and I'm going to wipe humans from 331 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,560 the face of the earth. The corrupt and violent 332 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,000 exploitation of the weak and vulnerable by the powerful. 333 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:24,840 This was the condition prior to the flock. 334 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,360 The powerful took what they wanted from those who were 335 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:32,640 weaker than them. The powerful took what they 336 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,800 wanted from people who were vulnerable. 337 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,280 The mighty exploited the weak. The rich exploited the 338 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,520 vulnerable. And God said, this is not what I 339 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,720 want, this is not what I ever intended. 340 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,600 That word regretted can be translated as repented. 341 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:55,840 God repented and and God created human beings and put us in a 342 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,000 garden. And when Adam was alone, God 343 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,160 made Eve. And God said this, this is an 344 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:03,320 Ezzor for Eve. This is a suitable partner for 345 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:04,480 him. This is someone. 346 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:09,160 These two together can be mutually interdependent, caring 347 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:13,720 for each other, supporting, encouraging, growing together. 348 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,000 I created a world in which even humans and animals can live in 349 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,920 harmony with each other without even exploiting that kind of 350 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,840 relationship. That was my intention, says God. 351 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:31,400 And now it's people fighting and destroying and exploiting each 352 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:36,240 other all the time. And that has become the order of 353 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,320 the day. And God said this is not what I 354 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:43,760 wanted, this wasn't, this is not what I planned and I will not 355 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:48,280 tolerate this going on forever. And so God hit the button and 356 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,120 started the timer and said 120 years. 357 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:55,840 It's all coming to an end. It's all coming to end of the 358 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,800 corrupt and the violent, exploiting the weak and the 359 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:06,480 vulnerable by their power. So what can we do? 360 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:10,680 I mean the simple fact that we are not that the world today 361 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,040 with as many problems as there are is not as bad as it was the 362 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:16,720 world was just prior to the flood. 363 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,760 I, I, I can say with 100% confidence that the thought and 364 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,680 of the minds and the the meditations of the hearts of 365 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,360 everyone in the world is not all evil all the time. 366 00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,000 I think, I think we can look around this room and see 367 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,160 examples of people who are, who are not thinking all evil all 368 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,840 the time, but instead, like Noah, are seeking God and the 369 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,200 righteousness of God. But we know that there are 370 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,520 powerful people out there pulling strings and manipulating 371 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,960 and taking and using their power and their wealth to get what 372 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:53,440 they want and when they want it. And they don't have to follow 373 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:56,600 the same rules as the people without that wealth and power. 374 00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,400 And the rich have a very different legal system than the 375 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,680 rest of us do. And the richer you are, the more 376 00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,600 that legal system convenient, you know, with someone with 377 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:10,360 enough money a fine. What is a fine to Elon Musk or 378 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:14,800 to Jeff Bezos? There are companies and 379 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,000 corporations out there that continually break the law and 380 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,480 they just pay the fine because it's cheaper to break the law 381 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,680 and pay the fine than it is to follow the law. 382 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:31,200 And and so fines are only have an impact on a person if they're 383 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:35,120 poor. That's when a fine has an it's 384 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:40,800 the wealthy and the powerful can do things, particularly the 385 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,560 really ones that are the Nephilim, the ones that are 386 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,760 really mighty in the world, the ones that folks really look up 387 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,080 to that that seem to get away with anything and everything and 388 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,440 can do whatever they want without consequence. 389 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,280 And if they and if they do get in trouble, maybe they can get a 390 00:22:54,280 --> 00:23:00,600 pardon for it too. So what can we do in this kind 391 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,080 of context? How can we be a witness? 392 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,400 What can we do before the world would ever get as bad? 393 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,480 Well, God has already said, I'm not going to destroy the world 394 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:12,440 again with a flood, so we don't have to worry about that 395 00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,920 duplicating itself in that way. But what can we do in the face 396 00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:20,760 of mighty and powerful people? The first thing we can do is we 397 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:25,480 can beware of idolizing power. It's so easy to idolize power. 398 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:28,840 It's so easy to sit back and think, you know what, man, if I 399 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,400 just had the money. I just had the money. 400 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,040 I don't know, I'm picking on Bezos and Musk today. 401 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:35,800 They're the names that come to my mind. 402 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,600 You can throw Bill Gates in there and any number of other 403 00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,600 men and women. I just had their money. 404 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,080 I just had their influence. If I could just get the 405 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,760 president to listen to me like he listens to them. 406 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,040 That's the presidents of both parties call the billionaires. 407 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,360 What do you think the billionaires of both parties 408 00:23:57,360 --> 00:24:01,720 call the presidents and they donate to the campaigns and they 409 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:03,320 get the influence and they get the power. 410 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,360 And it's so easy to idolize that. 411 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,920 So much in our culture pushes us to do that. 412 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:15,640 News and news feeds and Facebook posts and YouTube and TikTok and 413 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,240 all of the glamour and all of the glitz that goes along with 414 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,680 being mega wealthy or being a powerful politician or being a 415 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:27,920 movie star or an athletic star and people all looking up to 416 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,560 him. They got all this power. 417 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,880 And oh, if I just, if I could just get close to that, if I 418 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,400 could just be part of that, If I could just get some of that, if 419 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,520 I could be like them, if I could ride their coattails. 420 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,600 That's what idolizing power. It's not about I'm going to bow 421 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,800 down and worship Elon Musk. I don't know anyone out there 422 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,560 that's doing that. There's probably a few people, 423 00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:52,160 the people that say I'm going to be like, that's what I want for 424 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,160 myself. That's what I want to pursue. 425 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,960 I want safety and security and peace and prosperity for my 426 00:24:57,960 --> 00:24:59,560 family. And so I'm going to be like 427 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,840 those folks that are seeking wealth and power, and I'm going 428 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:05,200 to seek wealth and power too. And that's the idolizing of 429 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:09,360 power. When we turn to human sources of 430 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:14,320 power and influence for our safety and security and 431 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,480 protection, rather than turning to God. 432 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,680 When we turn to human sources of power and wealth for glory and 433 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,320 honor instead of turning to God, that's what I'd. 434 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,280 And when we do that, we will inevitably follow in the 435 00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:34,360 footsteps of the Canes and the Lamex and all of those other 436 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:37,960 folks that said, I'm going to get what I want no matter what 437 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,880 it costs anyone else for me and my own. 438 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:44,320 I'll get power and I'll get glory. 439 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,520 We've got to be aware of that and that tendency in our lives. 440 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,440 And the second thing we can do is we can pursue and maintain 441 00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:54,800 righteousness in our own lives. It's what Noah did. 442 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,480 There is no sense that Noah had any capacity to change the 443 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,880 direction of the culture around him, and yet he found favor. 444 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,800 In God's eyes. He was living. 445 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,120 That's that same language. God looked on Abel and his 446 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:13,680 offering with favor. God looked on Noah with favor. 447 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,320 Noah was living. We don't know the details of it, 448 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,200 but there was something righteous in his life, some way 449 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,240 that he was living, and we can pursue that in our own lives. 450 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,640 We've got some great examples and great role models of that 451 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:34,000 throughout history. If we want to look for more 452 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:38,040 contemporary examples of cultures that were were similar 453 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:42,320 to the culture of the world just before the flood, one of the 454 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,240 easiest, one of the lowest hanging fruit to pick on with 455 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:46,840 all of that is Nazi Germany, right? 456 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,160 I mean, it's easy to look at that culture and say there was a 457 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,360 lot of evil all the time going on in Nazi Germany. 458 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:59,360 And yet we see people within that culture itself that were 459 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:04,120 like Noah, they found favor in God's eyes. 460 00:27:04,120 --> 00:27:07,880 They they they did righteousness even in the midst of all of the 461 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:09,320 evil that was going on around them. 462 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,560 Corey Tenboom is, is one of the easiest examples of that. 463 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,440 She was in the Netherlands and he after they got overrun by the 464 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,560 Nazis, she and her family helped hide Jews in their housekeeping 465 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,600 them secret until they couldn't anymore. 466 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,240 And then they were sent to prison. 467 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,960 And everyone but Corey, everyone in her family died but her. 468 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:29,160 But her. And then there were others. 469 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,240 And I got, I make a list because my brain does not hold lists in 470 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,160 my head as well. So I got to refer to my list. 471 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,960 And where, Yeah, I'm in the wrong spot. 472 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,720 There we go. Meep geese. 473 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,640 You know who meep geese she was? She was just a secretary. 474 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,640 And I only say just a secretary not because that's 475 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,960 insignificant, but. But there's no power in that. 476 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:58,920 You can't change the viewer's mind from the position of being 477 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:03,320 a secretary. But but she was a secretary for 478 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:09,800 Otto Frank, and her family had a room that no one really knew 479 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,240 about. And she hit Anne Frank and her 480 00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:16,880 family and others for as long as they could at great risk of 481 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:21,480 their own lives. Instead of joining in the 482 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:27,040 exploitation of the Jewish folks that were being persecuted, they 483 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,800 at risk of their own lives, they sought to shelter and protect 484 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,240 those who were weak and vulnerable in that culture. 485 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:36,920 The other end of the economic scales, Oskar Schindler, who 486 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:38,920 were operated in Germany and in Poland. 487 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,040 He was an industrialist, A businessman. 488 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,440 He had money and wealth, and he used initially that money and 489 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,280 wealth to make himself rich. He was initially part of the 490 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,360 problem, and he was going to be happy to exploit the cheap labor 491 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:54,560 of the Jews to make himself rich. 492 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,520 He was joining. He was one of those people of 493 00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,560 power. And then he saw what was really 494 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:03,240 happening, and then he put all of his wealth and his own life 495 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:08,040 on the line to protect and shield the lives of Jews. 496 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:15,360 Instead of exploiting them, he used his position to protect and 497 00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,880 defend the weak and the vulnerable rather than 498 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:19,920 exploiting them for his own game. 499 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,520 But the one and I never heard of this person before very 500 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,960 recently. Chiune Sugiyara. 501 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:30,320 Anyone ever heard of Chiune Sugiyara? 502 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:36,640 Anyone ever heard that name? He's Japanese and and he was 503 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:40,320 appointed as a diplomat in Lithuania. 504 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:46,400 He was a diplomat in Lithuania in 1940 and when Germany invaded 505 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,080 Poland. Lithuania is a little country 506 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:51,960 northeast of Poland. When Germany invaded Poland and 507 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,120 the Jews from Poland fleeing the Germans fled into Lithuania. 508 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:02,520 Now, he was a Japanese diplomat. His government was allied with 509 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:09,240 the Nazis, and yet he used his position to write transit visas 510 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:15,720 for Jews so they could escape. And he did this even when he was 511 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,600 instructed by his bosses to not do it. 512 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:20,760 He and his family, it was handwritten. 513 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:30,160 They were writing 2 to 300 visas a day for months and ultimately 514 00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:35,360 helped 6000 Jews escape the Nazis. 515 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:40,760 And, and he said later, and I love this, I love this. 516 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:42,880 I'm going to find the quote again so I can say it right. 517 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,040 He didn't. He got no I'd never heard of 518 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,440 this guy before. I'd never heard of him and and 519 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:51,800 he said this. I may have disobeyed my 520 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,440 government, but if I didn't, I would be disobeying God. 521 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:03,000 What a beautiful statement of someone who was living like 522 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:05,760 Noah. Instead of joining in the 523 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,360 exploitation of the weak and vulnerable, he could have used 524 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,720 those folks to advance himself in the eyes of his own 525 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:17,320 government and said he put his own life and his own future at 526 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,840 risk. He and his family, I believe it 527 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,760 was his wife, not sure if they had kids there, writing these 528 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:27,320 visas together to help protect as many as they could. 529 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:31,200 They couldn't change the tide of war, but they could do what they 530 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:33,880 could to protect those that were around them. 531 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:39,360 Nazi Germany isn't the only place where you find that sort 532 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:46,600 of oppression and wealthy and powerful, exploiting the weak 533 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,000 and the vulnerable. There's another name you might 534 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,280 have heard, Nargis Mohammadi. Anyone ever heard of Nargis 535 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:55,800 Mohammadi? She's in. 536 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:59,720 She's alive now. She's in jail now in the Islamic 537 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:03,800 Republic of Iran. She's a journalist and an 538 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:09,520 activist who has sacrificed an extraordinary amount of her life 539 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:16,360 to oppose the Islamic Republic's treatment of women and prisoners 540 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:21,760 and other issues in Iran, where where women, if they show too 541 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:25,000 much of their hair, can be dragged into a van and 542 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,840 imprisoned or beaten, where prisoners are tortured in the 543 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:31,920 jails. She was awarded the Nobel Peace 544 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:35,320 Prize while she was in jail. She's still in jail when in 545 00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:38,400 1923, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work. 546 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,320 The Islamic Republic did not give her a furlough to go 547 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,880 receive the Peace Prize, and they did not allow them to bring 548 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,880 the prize to her. They're in jail that some of her 549 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:51,320 family who were living in exile from Iran went and received it 550 00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:53,800 on her own behalf. Even while she was in jail, she 551 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:59,040 was organizing protests among the other prisoners of the over 552 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,920 the treatment of women and torture and the conditions 553 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,000 within the prisons. She's been tortured. 554 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,880 And she's done all of this even while suffering from significant 555 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,400 health problems, partial paralysis, and severe lung 556 00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:15,320 problems, and she's still doing it today. 557 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,720 By all counts, she is one of the weak and the vulnerable. 558 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:27,360 And yet she's doing what she can to protect and shelter other 559 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,720 folks who are weak and vulnerable, even at great cost 560 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:37,240 to her own life. We can pursue the righteousness 561 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,080 of God. The righteousness of God is. 562 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:41,840 Again, it's not about following the rules. 563 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,040 The righteousness of God is about relationships. 564 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:49,040 Love God with your heart, your soul, all your heart, all your 565 00:33:49,040 --> 00:33:51,600 soul, all your mind, and all your strength, and love your 566 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,800 neighbor as yourself. And that's what these examples 567 00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,920 and many, many, many others, and many other cultures and times 568 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:03,520 and places of folks loving God with all that they had and 569 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,680 loving their neighbors, their self, even when surrounded by 570 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:11,639 great wickedness, great evil, and great danger, even at great 571 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:16,040 cost to their own lives. Pursue and maintain 572 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:20,000 righteousness in your own life. The other thing you can do, the 573 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,920 other thing we can do is say yes to God's urgent call to repent 574 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,040 some. Sometimes we get caught up in it 575 00:34:28,639 --> 00:34:33,560 without even realizing it. When we find ourselves behaving 576 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:38,320 in ways or idolizing in power in ways that are leading us to be 577 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,080 unconcerned for the poor, unconcerned for the needy, 578 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,040 unconcerned for the weak and the vulnerable. 579 00:34:44,199 --> 00:34:48,400 When we find ourselves doing things that that make our lives 580 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:53,000 better at the expense of others. When we become aware of that, we 581 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,400 can repent. The clock is still ticking or 582 00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,680 it's ticking again. There's a new clock. 583 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,400 It's kind of. We see that in the Book of 584 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:04,600 Revelation. We're meeting this Wednesday, by 585 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:05,880 the way. I should throw that in there 586 00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,080 too. We got two more sessions left. 587 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:15,000 This there is still urgency in the call. 588 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:18,600 There is still urgency in the call. 589 00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:23,360 And when we see ways that we are doing that, we can turn to God 590 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:28,320 and say, forgive me and show me how to be like Noah. 591 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:33,720 Show me how to be like Chiune. Show me how to be like Nargis. 592 00:35:33,720 --> 00:35:37,240 Show me how to be like me. Show me how to be like Oscar, 593 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:44,480 like all of these other folks in so many places, who instead of 594 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,680 instead of idolizing power, what is going on? 595 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,920 Boom, my thumb must be twitchy. Instead of idolizing power, we 596 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:57,720 take seriously God's notion that He will not contend with us 597 00:35:57,720 --> 00:36:00,080 forever on these things. He will not abide with us 598 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,880 forever on these things. There comes a time when we need 599 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,680 to choose. Whenever we see that 600 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:11,960 opportunity, let's choose. Let's choose to follow God and 601 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,320 live in loving relationships with Him and others in Jesus 602 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,240 name, Amen. Amen.